Touch-screen bacteria like sharing spit

Keep those grimy, germ-infested hands off that iPhone. Who knows where those fingers have been?

Personal touch-screen devices — iPads, BlackBerrys and Droids — are now seemingly everywhere, potentially harboring the germs and viruses that turn voices raspy and send noses running.

Want to peek at a digital snapshot, a friend’s Facebook status or to show off the latest YouTube video? Best to just look, not touch — or risk going viral yourself.

“If you’re sharing the device, then you’re sharing your influenza with someone else who touches it,” said Timothy Julian, a Stanford University doctoral student who co-authored a study on the spread of viruses.

British researchers provide some stomach-churning data: Mobile phones harbor 18 times more bacteria than a flush handle in a typical men’s restroom.